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The author's intended meaning, in context, is I think: "the only way someone speaks more than one language [without occasionally getting caught by tricky corner
by aaronharnly 8y ago
The author's intended meaning, in context, is I think: "the only way someone speaks more than one language [without occasionally getting caught by tricky corners of usage or idiom]." I still agree with you that it's overstrong, but read charitably they simply meant that language is ever sneaky.
- StavrosK 8y agoMaybe so, but I still contend that it's very possible to speak a foreign language while rarely making mistakes. Nobody in my extended environment spoke English when I was growing up, yet I think I'm doing okay. I don't think I'm getting tripped up on idioms all that often, but I may just not be seeing my mistakes.
- FabHK 8y agoI stumbled about that part of the article as well, and wonder about it. "rarely making mistakes" is not enough, though. You can learn English as a second language and be better in the GRE than most others, including native speakers. But: - Can you sing a few common lullabies? Or cite children's rhymes? - Do you know the name of Mickey Mouse's dog? (There's the apocryphal story about how this was used as a shibboleth to out Russian spies that had infiltrated the US). Talking of shibboleths, think about how the American spy in "Inglourious Basterds" was outed (and shot) because he signalled "3" by hand in the wrong convention. - There are probably many more things, like names for household items ("Scheuermittel" = "abrasive detergent") or trees, that you don't know. It would be interesting to find research on this: Distinguishing native speakers from (excellent) non-native speakers. I'm inclined to agree with the author's point that you only ever speak one language, if you just take "speak" to be sufficiently comprehensive.
- ragazzina 8y ago>Do you know the name of Mickey Mouse's dog? I don't get your point, the name of Mickey Mouse's dog is the same in other languages.
- jacobush 8y agoA Soviet spy did not spend their childhood watching Disney morning shows on TV while eating their Disney branded cereal. So if they learned English ever so well later in life and may be perfectly fluent in the affairs of grown up and important things, they might have missed some crucial lore.
- mrsuprawsm 8y agoI'm a native English (British) speaker and I never even knew that Mickey Mouse had a dog, let alone what it was called. I totally agree with the wider point, however.
- narag 8y agoThe weird thing is that he has a dog, Pluto, that behaves like a pet and at the same time his friend Goofy, that's also a dog, behaves like a human. OK, he's a mouse so go figure. (Spanish speaker, no English until I was 12)
- logfromblammo 8y agoIf you think that's crazy, think about Pete. He's been a bear (Oswald era), a cat (Steamboat Willie), and if not a dog, then a very doglike cat (Goof Troop). I'm pretty sure he's canonically a cat, but who can really tell? As one of the largest core Disney characters around, he's Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest, or Siberian, at least.
- jacobush 8y agoWhich Mr is in the Ice Poles?
- rayiner 8y agoGood examples. Many (most?) people never become comfortable in a foreign language. My mom has lived in the US for 30 years (moved here in her 30s) and still finds English exhausting to read. (She was an avid reader before.) My wife picks up languages quickly, has a degree in German literature. She speaks it fluently, but mentioned how tiring it was to speak it all the time when living there.
- Nimitz14 8y agoAnd yet you _completely_ failed at understanding what the author was saying.